Freehold management failing to carry out repairs?

Freehold management failing to carry out repairs?

0:01 AM, 9th July 2024, About A week ago 11

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Hello everybody, this is my first post but I have been following and reading the forum on Property118 for quite some time. My question is this: What to do if your freehold management company is failing to carry out remedial work on the property.

I bought this flat in a converted building in 2019 and the freeholders were in between changing management companies at the time and a new lease had just been signed too.

For the first several years I paid ground rent and service charge and then noticed at the beginning of 2023 that nothing was being repaired despite the (obvious) rising service charge fees. I emailed them to keep all correspondence recorded, informing them that before paying next year’s service charge, I wanted to see how the previous years’ funds had been spent as nothing/very little had been done.

I carried on paying ground rent fees and held back on the service charges and continued to email them on their two email addresses approximately every month or two.  They have never written back despite numerous (10+) emails, requesting for assistance regarding the issue. In the meantime I had emailed them on other matters which they were very quick to reply to me on. All on the same email addresses used prior to this.

After making my request, I have now received an account statement showing that I have an outstanding balance (not a horrendous amount) that I am questioning and wondered if anyone else here has had similar experiences? They have never threatened me with any kind of debt recovery etc.

I have requested a Data Subject Access Request (DSAR) before going any further, along with any signed/deemed contracts. I am more than happy to pay for a service that I am receiving – maintaining, repairing and upholding their side of any contract as of course this looks after my investment too.

I just don’t believe it is fair to pay for a service while parts of the property get completely neglected and haven’t undergone any remedial work whatsoever since the property purchase in Feb 2019.

Thanks in advance for any assistance that anyone might be able to give and I am forever grateful for those on this forum for their dedication in helping other landlords with new and old issues that we face in these trying times.

Thanks,

Omar


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Omar Kouch

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19:24 PM, 15th July 2024, About 7 hours ago

Reply to the comment left by Kizzie at 15/07/2024 - 18:17
Thank you.
I will leave an update when I know more, just in case it helps anyone else in a similar situation.
🙂

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